The economic calendar in the U.S. Friday includes new-home sales data for December at 10 a.m. EST. Economists, according to Reuters, forecast a total of 385,000 annualized units, compared with 377,000 in November.

U.S. stocks on Thursday ended mixed Thursday as better-than-expected U.S. economic indicators failed to push the Nasdaq back into positive territory amid a sharp price decline in Apple(AAPL) .

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 46 points, or 0.33%, to 13,825.

The S&P 500 ended flat at 1495. The Nasdaq fell 23 points, or 0.74%, to 3130.

Microsoft (MSFT) received a boost in its fiscal second quarter from its server & tools division and Windows 8 licenses, helping it post earnings that topped Wall Street expectations.

The software giant earned 76 cents a share on a GAAP basis during the quarter on revenue of $21.46 billion. Analysts were expecting profit of 75 cents a share on revenue of $21.5 billion.